Last month, the San Diego State freshman is tossed into the game with two minutes left and her team leading UNLV by 18 points. Aztecs women’s basketball coach Beth Burns issues firm instructions that no player take a shot early on in the possession. But a few seconds into SDSU’s next trip down the court, Brandon receives a pass from point guard Chelsea Hopkins and suddenly Burns is yelling “shoot it!”

Freshman hazing? Nah, Hopkins was just an assist shy of a triple double.

In other words – business as usual.

Hopkins got her triple double that night and now leads the nation with three of them. The feats have come against SMU, UNLV and Nevada, and if Chelsea would have managed one more assist vs. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in December, she’d have a fourth.

Think what you will about women’s basketball – that it’s slower or stagnant or forever stuck below the rim. But spend two halves watching Hopkins play, and yawns wouldn’t dare try to escape your mouth.

This season, the senior is averaging 13.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. Her assist mark is good for seventh in the country, and at 5-foot-8 – making her the second-shortest player on the team – she leads the Aztecs in boards.

Type a superlative into thesaurus.com and most would aptly describe Chelsea’s game. Her coach, however, tends to favor one particular adjective.

“She’s special,” said Burns, repeating the word throughout a Hopkins-centered interview last week. “She does the things you can’t teach. A good player can do things, but a great player can make everybody else do things. That’s what Chelsea does.”

Is it the shoes? Nah, can’t be those. Chelsea wears a different pair every game – from Jordans to Penny Hardaways to any other swooshified sneaker.

Is it the knees? No, it definitely can’t be those. Hopkins has torn her meniscus three different times. The first two came during her time at Duke, where she played 46 games as a freshman and sophomore but spent the rest of the time hobbled by injury. In high school, Chelsea’s nick name was “C-Hop,” a nod to her jumping ability that allowed her to grab the rim. But in addition to hindering her lateral movement, multiple surgeries have caused C-Hop’s vertical leap, to well, C-Drop.

Is it the brains? Hey, now we’re talking.

We can start with the book smarts – the 4.7 GPA that earned Hopkins salutatorian honors at Mojave High School, the bachelors in public administration that she’s already received and the MBA she’s pursuing. But there are also the court smarts that have been planted, fertilized and watered within her since she was a toddler.

Remember Hayden Pannettiere’s character from "Remember the Titans? The assistant coach’s 9-year-old daughter who knew more about football than most the players? Well, that may have been based off Hopkins.

Chelsea’s father, Tony Hopkins, is the first black basketball coach to win a high school state championship in Nevada. And he used to sit Chelsea next to him for every game while turning to her for substitution advice.

But it was the counsel that he passed on to her that shaped her into the hoopster she is today; that when you take the floor, you’re not playing a position – you’re playing a game.

“My dad always told me that I while my position may be point guard, that doesn’t mean that you’re only limited to running the team and passing,” said Hopkins, who models her game after Rajon Rondo and said she'd like to be a general manager for a pro basketball team one day. “Ever since high school, I’ve loved to rebound the ball.”

That’s the approach that has earned Hopkins six Mountain West Player of the Week awards, put her on the Wade Trophy watch list, and has the first-place Aztecs at 20-5 overall and 11-1 in conference play heading into Saturday's game against Nevada. It's also a mentality that prompted teammates to unanimously vote her captain after she transferred from Duke.

But when it comes to accolades, Hopkins tends to deflect the praise -- crediting her fellow Aztecs for the bulk of her success. No surprise there. Hopkins tends to hook her teammates up.